The black community in the state of Minnesota is torn into many silos. One group seeks empowerment, fame and money; the others seek to address Minnesota’s continued mismanagement of economic assets for the minority-ethnic communities. Sources tell Our Black News and internal audit is underway inside of the Minnesota Department of Administration, but for the most part, they do not want it to go public. There is ugliness that could forever shadow Minnesota democrats and their rejection of civil rights and justice for all. At the end of the day, we do have experts that are the zenith of community problem-solving.

By Don Allen, Publisher – Educator

William Finney, the former St. Paul police chief often known as “Corky,” is currently on the St. Paul City Council on an interim basis, filling the seat from the East Side that became open when Kathy Lantry took a job as head of the Public Works Department. Finney was the first African-American police chief in Minnesota when he served as the city’s top cop from 1992 to 2004.

John Harrington is Chief of Metro Transit Police in Minneapolis–Saint Paul and a former member of the Minnesota Senate who represented District 67, which includes portions of the city of Saint Paul in Ramsey County. A Democrat, he is a teacher and manager at Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul.

Harrington was a member of the Saint Paul Police Department from 1977 to 2010, serving as the Department’s chief from 2004 to 2010.

Both Finney and Harrington are world-renowned experts on police-community relations and are celebrated lecturers at college campuses and city police departments all across the United States. These men are Minnesota’s best solution to deal with the chaos in the Minneapolis Police Department and the black community.

The situation happening in north Minneapolis becomes questionable when Minnesota’s governor’s office political policy-makers start looking elsewhere for answers on how to deal with the civil unrest. It seems time for a task force led by both Finney and Harrington, two well-respected black men who understand public policy, policing and currently hold the key to solutions that would solve what’s seems to be a positioning piece supported by the mainstream media and local activist who specialize in theater.

Black Lives Matter, Minneapolis and St. Paul NAACP, the Minneapolis Urban League and splintered factions who feel disrespected by the recent events at the 4^th Precinct need to have a come to Jesus meeting with both of these law enforcement leaders and develop a plan of solid solutions to prevent any further discourse that might lead to black Minnesotans not working with each other.

This week, congressman Keith Ellison asked protesters to pack up and shift the conversation to level that will benefit the people. Minneapolis NAACP president and Black Lives Matter organizer Nekima Levy-Pounds became defiant. “You never change things by fighting the existing reality.

R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983), an American architect, systems theorist, author, designer and inventor wrote, “To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

Are black Minnesotans ready to do the work and build a new model of police-community relationships while working on addressing economic concerns? It seems that both Finney and Harrington could be the community trailblazers to shift the pendulum for the best.